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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26509375">The Glass of What Might Have Been</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anti-JK, F/M, I've written too much Harry Potter fanfic in the past I'm making up for it, Parallel Universes, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Seriously that's the point of the fic, Sort of generic mental health warning, The characters have been through some stuff, Time Travel, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, sort of???, trans author</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:27:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,967</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26509375</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny wander the corridors of Hogwarts. Until they find a mysterious mirror in the headmaster's office, and find a whole other world...</p><p>JK Rowling is a horrible human being and I write this to recognise that. So yeah that'll come up.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Mirror</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Battle was over. Voldemort was dead. The war was won, and Harry had his happy ending. And he didn’t know what to do with it. People had gone home, of course, mourning the dead yet rejoicing that they had survived. Even the Weasleys had left, although Ron and Ginny had stayed behind with him and Hermione as they paced the empty halls of the half-destroyed castle they once called their own. These classrooms, once so familiar to them, seemed haunted with the memories of what had taken place just the day before. Harry could hardly bare to be here yet could not tear himself away.<br/>Come mid-afternoon they were all tired and hungry, and they found themselves in the headmaster’s office. Harry ran his hands over the artefacts he remembered from his second year, when even after all he had been through he still viewed them with wonder and hope. Now they were mere inanimate objects to him, he knew the function of every one. The mystery was gone.<br/>Except for one.<br/>It was something he had never seen before. A full-length mirror, in an embellished golden frame. He called to his friends.<br/>“Guys, look at this.”<br/>They rushed over to see what he had found, like some echo of the childhood adventures they’d had so close by. Hermione blew some dust off of it, wiping it away from the top portion which she had to stand on tiptoes to reach.<br/>“The Glass of What Might Have Been.”<br/>“Never heard of it,” Ron offered. “Hermione?”<br/>She shook her head. “I’ve never seen it in the headmaster’s office before. Maybe it was Snape’s?”<br/>“Maybe…” Harry said quietly, running his hand over the glass. It didn’t show fingerprints, or take the soot from his fingers. It didn’t show any blemish at all.<br/>“What’s this?” Ginny asked, snapping him out of his reverie. She had found a small handle to the right of the mirror, and pulled it to reveal what looked like shelves holding small vials.<br/>“They’re memories,” Hermione breathed.<br/>“They’re not.” Harry took one, and turned it in his hand. They didn’t shine with the same light as memories, there was something in there. It looked alive, constantly moving, constantly changing. Ginny took another one, and handed it to Hermione. She inspected it for a moment, before Ron snatched it from her.<br/>“Ron, what are you doing?”<br/>“Sorry, but look-” he took the vial and placed it above the mirror, in a small alcove in the frame, just below the writing. It fit perfectly. The liquid began to trickle out over the mirror, slowly covering the surface with its strange sheen. Through the liquid they caught glimpses of something else, of something not reflected by the mirror. Until the liquid had fully coated the glass, and they were looking into another room.<br/>It was a Muggle room, that much was clear. It looked like a museum, with boards placed around showing the history of whatever building this was. There was nobody in it, it looked like it was closed.<br/>“What is it?” Ron asked, eventually.<br/>“It’s a museum,” Hermione replied absent-mindedly. She was still clearly trying to unravel the mystery of the mirror in her mind.<br/>“But - why is there a museum in the mirror?” Ginny asked. There was no answer given, of course there wasn’t, how could there be? What answer was there?<br/>“The Glass of What Might Have Been,” Hermione mumbled, the remnant of a half-formed answer she had constructed but couldn’t quite finish.<br/>Harry reached out once more to touch the mirror. He expected to feel the seemingly infinite supply of liquid running from the still-full bottle, going seemingly nowhere. Instead he felt… nothing. <br/>“Harry, what is it?”<br/>“It’s-” His hand had stopped, just at the border of the mirror, a border he couldn’t feel but had to conjure with his mind. What would happen if he moved his hand further? What could happen?<br/>Ron gasped, before Harry had even truly comprehended what had happened. His hand was in the mirror. He couldn’t stop, if he stopped he might think, he might realise what a bad idea this all was. Now his arm was through, it was now or never, would he step through? Nobody else was stopping him, or maybe he just wasn’t listening, it made no difference. One step, one whole new adventure…<br/>It was like stepping through a doorway. The same cold wind blew through the glassless windows as they had through the battle-scarred castle and Harry hugged his jumper around him. He looked back and could just see a regular mirror, yet he knew they could still see him. He gave them a small grin, the first grin he’d given in what felt like too long, and beckoned them through. Hermione’s dark fingertips came through first, slowly and cautiously, but faster than his. Ron and Ginny just seemed to jump through at once.<br/>“Where are we?” Ron asked.<br/>“I think-” Ginny was staring out at the window, a little panicked hitch in her voice. “I think I know where we are. Guys, come look.”<br/>They looked out the window that the coldest air blew through, and blinked tears through the wind. The view was of rolling hills, dark clouds overhead, a forest, a lake…<br/>“That’s-” Harry heard Ron’s breath catch in the cold.<br/>“It’s Hogwarts.” He finished. “We’re in Hogwarts.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A New World</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Harry knew that view well. This was Dumbledore’s - the headmaster’s - office. How did he not see it before? The same shape, even the same stone walls, the same floor. He supposed that was what he expected to see in a mirror, why would it surprise him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re still in the headmaster’s office,” Ron said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But we’re not.” Ginny added, and Ron turned to look at her. “Well, obviously. This isn't Hogwarts, is it? It’s some castle.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Mirror of What Might Have Been,” Hermione said again. “Of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it?” Ron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s like… it’s like a parallel universe. You know - parallel universes!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron and Ginny stared at her blankley. “Harry!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Hermione, parallel universes.” Dudley watched enough sci-fi for him to understand. “I guess it makes sense.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you talking about?” Ron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Parallel universes, like - like the same world, but with one thing changed. Just so that it’s slightly different.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you’re saying we’re in a - parallel universe?” Ginny asked uncertainly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought they weren’t real, how can they be real?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How can magic be real, Harry?” Hermione sounded slightly exasperated. “How can any of it? Why shouldn’t a parallel world exist?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess…” Harry hears Ron’s steps on the stone floor. They sound so solid, so real… why shouldn’t they be? This is just one more miracle of magic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ginny tried the door, and Harry heard the lock rattle. “Alohomora.” The lock rattled again. “Alohomora!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong?” He asked. His hand brushed her arm and he felt an electric shock. They had hardly touched in so long.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not working, I can’t open it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me try. Alohomora!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nothing. But it didn’t feel like when a spell didn’t work, that was like… like trying to do something but the power faltering half way. Now there was no power. They were just people waving bits of wood at a door and saying funny words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione. Hermione! Something’s gone wrong.” She rushed over, a concerned look on her face. She had been listening, Harry thought she already knew. Maybe she could already feel it. “It’s like there’s no magic here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She frowned at him, before letting out a little gasp. “If magic doesn’t exist in this world - that’s why there’s no Hogwarts, that’s why there’s no anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s like there’s no magic to draw from,” Ginny said, and Harry nodded in agreement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So this-” Ron held out his wand. “It’s just wood.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s just wood.” Hermione said. Something dropped within all of them, some deep realisation that they were utterly powerless in this new world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe we should go back.” Ginny said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something in Harry said no, we have to keep going forward, because going back means looking back and acknowledging everything they’ve lost, whereas here they could keep on adventuring like they were 13 again with no worries other than someone trying to kill him-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you’re right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They turned towards the mirror, when they heard a key in the door. It opened to show a middle-aged man in a uniform, staring dumbstruck at the group before him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing in here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ginny started crying. A small smile told Harry it was fake but he didn’t think it totally was, she probably just stopped holding back the tears. He knew he could. “We’re - lost - we didn’t mean to be in here-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At that point he clearly took in their torn clothes and scarred skin, and his demeanor softened. “What happened to you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They looked at one another, nobody could come up with a story that this Muggle would believe. He could clearly sense their unwillingness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come downstairs, I’ll call you a cab. Where are you from?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Could we just go to the nearest town, please?” Hermione asked, the epitome of the innocent victim. Harry supposed she was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure thing,” the nice man said. He led them downstairs, notably away from the mirror, and pulled out a small rectangular device. He tapped it, and the screen lit up, and then he spoke into it like a phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure they don’t have magic?” Ron asked. “Maybe the magic’s just different.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s technology,” Hermione whispered back. “More advanced technology than ours. Maybe they don’t need magic.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need one of your names,” the man called to the whispering group of dishevelled teenagers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione,” Hermione offered. Harry realised with a sense of relief that, after all these months on the run, they could finally use their real names! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man gave a little chuckle, and relayed it into the ‘phone’ before turning back to them. He nodded to Harry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And that’s Harry Potter then is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They all started with shock. The man didn’t seem to notice, he was busy with other things, and Harry nervously tried to flatten his fringe over his scar. A million thoughts raced through his mind. Maybe he was famous here too, maybe Hermione was, maybe they were famous Muggles, he must look different though, the man would have recognised him-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, it’s the glasses,” the man said again. “Guess your parents must have been fans of the books.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry?” She asked, innocent and polite as though she weren’t going mad inside like she surely must be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bit of an unfortunate name now though, after what old JK’s been up to recently.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> they been up to recently?” Ginny asked. Like she had an idea what was going on. Like any of them did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t you hear? It was all over Twitter. She’s been being really transphobic. Apparently her new book’s about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right,” Ron said. Harry’s mind was racing but he couldn’t seem to latch on to any thought in particular, it was all just a blur.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s happening?” he whispered to Hermione, after the man seemed to get bored of talking to them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t you tell, Harry? You’re a book! We all are!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And why are you so excited about this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ron smirked. “It’s been your dream to be a book for years, hasn’t it Hermione?” She blushed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well who’s JK?” Ginny asked. “What’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>Twitter</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” Hermione said. “Maybe she’s the author?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So we were written by someone who-” But Harry was cut off by the man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The cab’s here. Come on, I’ve paid for it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you so much,” Ginny said, and they waved goodbye to the kind man as the cab drove them off into this new world.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I am low-key in love with this random Harry Potter fan who security guards this castle even though I wrote him. He's just such a nice guy. F*** it, he's trans now. This guy is trans. Wow now I'm tempted to just write him a whole backstory. Damn it.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Oh like that was a surprise, you read the parallel worlds tag. You should have known what to expect.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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